GUEST AUTHOR: TED RUBIN

Topic: Return on Relationship

Date: 27 July 2021

Time: 1pm ET

Guest’s Bio Ted is a leading Social Marketing Strategist, Author, Speaker, Provocateur… Photofy CMO and sits on various Advisory Boards. In March 2009 he started using and evangelizing the term ROR, Return on Relationship™, hashtag #RonR…. a concept he believes is the cornerstone for building an engaged multi-million member database and engaged community, many of whom are vocal advocates for the brand. Ted built these for e.l.f. Cosmetics as the Chief Marketing Officer between 2008 and 2010, OpenSky where Ted was Chief Social Marketing Officer until the end of April 2011, and for Collective Bias (whose Advisory Board he joined in January 2011) where Ted became Chief Social Marketing Officer, and an equity partner, May 1st 2011. Ted worked closely with Collective Bias since it was founded by John Andrews who Ted met through the blogging community when he was leading Emerging Media at Walmart. Ted left his position as Chief Social Marketing Officer of Collective Bias on August 31, 2013. He remained a principal shareholder until the November 2016 seven-figure acquisition by Inmar.

GUEST AUTHOR: SIMON MAINWARING

Topic: Lead With We

Date: 10 August 2021

Time: 1pm ET

Guest’s Bio: Simon Mainwaring is the founder and CEO of We First, a strategic consultancy that accelerates growth and impact for purpose-driven brands. He is a member of the Advisory Council of Conscious Capitalism LA, the Advisory Board of Sustainable Brands, The Forbes Business Council, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts in London. Simon was a finalist for Global Australian of the Year in 2015 and interim CMO at TOMS, received the MAKE CHANGE, ‘Conscious Leadership’ Award for 2016, a finalist for the Conscious Company Leadership Awards in 2017, and a Real Leaders Top 100 Visionary Leader in 2018. His company We First was included in Real Leaders list for the Top 100 Impact Companies in the United States for 2018 and a We First was a B Corps ‘Best for The World’ Honoree in 2019. He is a Jury Member of PRWeek’s ‘Purpose Awards’ in 2020 and a Jury Member at the Cannes Lions Festival for the Sustainable Development Goals in 2021.

Simon’s book, We First: How brands and consumers use social media to build a better world is a New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Amazon bestseller. It was named an Amazon Top Ten Business Book, 800CEORead Top Five Marketing Book, strategy+business named it the Best Business Marketing Book of the Year, and Sustainable Brands listed We First as one of their Top Sustainability Books of the decade. It has been translated into Russian, Chinese, Taiwanese and Korean. Simon also writes of the popular ‘Purpose At Work’ blog in Forbes.

GUEST AUTHOR: SUSAN McPHERSON

Topic: The Lost Art of Connecting

Date: 17 August 2021

Time: 11am ET

Guest’s Bio: Susan McPherson is a serial connector, angel investor, and corporate responsibility expert. She is the founder and CEO of McPherson Strategies, a communications consultancy focused on the intersection of brands and social impact. She is the author of The Lost Art of Connecting: The Gather, Ask, Do Method for Building Meaningful Relationships (McGraw-Hill). Susan has 25+ years of experience in marketing, public relations, and sustainability communications, speaking regularly at industry events including Inspirefest/Dublin, BSR, Center for Corporate Citizenship's Annual Summit, DLD and Techonomy, and contributing to the Harvard Business Review, Fast Company, and Forbes. She has appeared on NPR, CNN, USA Today, The New Yorker, New York Magazine and the Los Angeles Times.

Susan is the recipient of Forbes magazine’s 50 over 50—Impact 2021 award. She has also won numerous accolades for her voice on social media platforms from Fortune Magazine, Fast Company and Elle Magazine. Currently, Susan invests in and advises women-led start-ups, including: iFundWomen,Inc., Messy.fm, Our Place, The Riveter, Park Place Payments, Hint Water, Apolitical, Arlo Skye, Giapenta and The Muse. She serves on the boards of USA for UNHCR, The 19th News, and the Lower Eastside Girls Club, and serves on the advisory boards of The List and Alltruists. Additionally, she is a member of the MIT Solve Women and Technology Leadership Group and serves as an adviser to several nonprofits, including Girls Who Code, She’s The First, and The OpEd Project. Susan is a Vital Voices global corporate ambassador. She resides in Brooklyn.

GUEST AUTHOR: CHARLENE WHEELESS

Topic: You Are Enough!: Reclaiming Your Career and Your Life with Purpose, Passion, and Unapologetic Authenticity

Date: 24 August 2021

Time: 11am ET

Guest’s Bio: Charlene Wheeless is a renowned communications pro, author, and speaker with more than three decades of experience in business, corporate affairs, and communications. She leads her namesake communications and business advisory firm, Charlene Wheeless LLC, and she is the senior advisor for equity and justice at APCO Worldwide, a global advisory and advocacy communications consultancy. In this new global role Wheeless is a senior leader and advisor to both APCO and its clients on issues of equity, justice, diversity, and inclusion. She also mentors, trains, and leads both internal and client-facing teams on these issues, as well as works directly with APCO clients on corporate purpose, crisis and issues management, internal communications, organizational change and diversity, equity and inclusion. Wheeless is a member of the APCO Worldwide International Advisory Council. Additionally, she partners as a senior counselor with Gagen MacDonald, a strategy execution firm and a longstanding APCO partner.

Wheeless graduated from New Mexico State University with a Bachelor of Arts in journalism and public relations. She earned a master’s degree in public communications at American University in Washington, D.C., and an MBA from Keller Graduate School of Management. She resides in Northern Virginia with her husband of 29 years, with whom she shares two adult daughters.

GUEST EXPERT: JEROME DEROY

Topic: Powered by Storytelling: Excavate, Craft, and Present Stories to Transform Business Communication

Date: 31 August 2021

Time: 11:30am ET

Guest’s Bio: Jerome joined Narativ in 2007 after the founders, Murray Nossel and Paul Browde, handed him a shoebox full of notes and said, “we think there’s a company in here.” Jerome had recently left a position at BNP Paribas, Hong Kong, and come to New York to pursue a career in filmmaking. He jumped at the challenge—and transformed Narativ into the business it is today. Since then, Jerome has worked closely with clients as diverse as CIGNA, Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Janssen Pharma, and Warby Parker to craft business-relevant personal stories for sales and onboarding, leadership development, and team alignment.

He regularly lectures at Parsons New School of Design in New York City on The Art of Storytelling.